Automatic rail oiler



.Jam 13, 1955 IKUzo FUJINAWA A 2,699,840

AUTOMATIC RAIL OILER Filed July 20, 1953 9) (62.0 (s e-a) (m 5) 5 /o /5 20 25 ap 7/le e/aps/ng man/'7s Fig. 5

AUTOMATIC RAIL OILER Ikuzo Fujinawa, Osaka, Japan, assignor to` Kinki Nippon Tetsudo. Kabushiki-Kaisha,. Osaka, Japan a corpora-` tionof Japan Application July 20, 1953 SerialNo. 369,182

Claims priority, application Japan December 10, 1952 4 claims. (el. 1844-3) The present invention relates to an automatic rail oiler, particularly a` rail oiler mounted on an unsprung part of the carriage in such manner `that it does not partake any vertical` movement relative to the carriage but is adapted to be shifted laterally.

In railroad tracks, especially at curved sections, it is unavoidable that the inside corner of' the rail as well as the portion of the wheel flange contacting therewith are subjected to considerable wear due to the forced lateral displacement of the wheel `relative to the rail. Even in the straight course, should the carriage partake so-called snaking motion, same disadvantage is unavoidable.

An object of this invention is to providemeans for automatically and eectively supplying a filmyof oil to the inside corner of the rail at a curved section of the track in order to minimize the wear of that portion of the rail and of the contacting portion of the wheel flange.

Another object of the invention is to provide an oiling device which is normally held in an inoperative position and is movedto the operative position even inthe straight course of the track in the event of the snakng motion ofthe carriage.

Still another object` is to provide an automatic rail oiling device, wherein a film of oil is supplied onto the corner of the rail toward which the wheel has been shifted responsive to the snaking mot-ion of the carriage in the straight course of the track, while in a` curved section of the track oil is supplied onto the inside corner of the outer rail.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a rail oiler wherein the oiling device is so constructed that supply of oil is stopped when the wheel is running in the normal position relative to the rail or thewheel is stopped', so that the consumption of oil is considerably minimized.

With the above mentioned objects in view, according to the present invention, the rail oiler comprises a supporting bar mounted on an unsprung part of a carriage and having a depending resilient portion, an oiling device mounted to the lower end of said depending resilient portion of the supporting bar and" having a rotary oil ring partlyexposed near theouter face of the tl'ange of a wheel and adapted to be brought into rolling contact with the inside corner of the rail, a guide roller carried by said depending portion of the supporting bar and normally adapted to be in rolling contact with the inner face of the wheel ange so as to hold said oil ring out of contact with the rail, and means for supplying oil to said oiling device.

The invention will now be more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l shows the front view partly in section of one form of the rail oiler according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the oiling device; and

Figs. 3 to 5 illustrate by diagrams the characteristics of the invention as obtained by actual experiments and tests on railroad.

Turning now to the drawings in detail, in Figs. l and 2, the reference numeral 1 shows a rail, 2 the tyre of a wheel, and 3 is an equalizer mounted on the carriage. The oiler, generally designated by 4, consists of a supporting bar 6 secured at one end to said equalizer 3 by means of bolts 5, an oiling device 7 secured at the other end of said bar 6, and a guide roller 9 rotatably mounted on said supporting bar 6 and normally engaging with the inner face 8 of the flange of said wheel 2. The supporting bar 6 is composed of resilient material and nor-- mally tends to urge said oiling device 7 toward the rail 1,

2,699,840 Patented Jan. 18 1.955

,a ICC a recess formed at the lower end of the casing 10. The

casing 10 is soz arranged that the exposed portion of the conical ring 16 is` normally held out of contact with the rail, maintaining a clearance of about 5 mm; therebetween. In the casing 10` there is formed an oil chamf ber 18 connected by means of a ilexible oil pipe 12 to a suitable oil reservoir (not shown) mounted on the equalizer` 3. 19 is an oil valve or oil adjuster tube having its upper end opening into the oilchamber 18 and the lower open end bearing upon the outer periphery of the conical ring 16 as shown, as urged by a spring 21. The lower end` of thel oil adjuster tube 19- is carefully finished so as to secure a snug tit with the periphery of the ring 16 in order to prevent leakage of the oil. By such arrangement, it will be noted that upon free` rotation of the ring 16 a tlrn of oil is supplied from the oil chamber 18 to the outer periphery of the ring. On the other hand, when the conical ring 16 is not rotating, being out of contact with the rail, the oil is-prevented from ilowing out of the oil adjuster tubef19, so that there is no Waste of oil when the oil ring is in the inoperative position. Thus, the oil adjuster tube 19` performsdual` functions of supplying oil: and` stopping the supply of oil in the operative and inoperative positions, respectively, of the oil ring 16.

The guide roller 9, being carried by the resilient bar 6 and urged thereby towards the wheel, is always held in rolling contact with the back face 8 of the wheel flange. The roller preferably has a conicalshape and supported by a, ball bearing on an axis 17 in a manner similar to that of the oil ring 16. Said axis 17 for the guide roller is mounted to a bracket extending from the depending portion of the bar 6 and is so` arranged: as to` be adjusted to vary the distance between the depending portion of the bar 6` and the point of the rolling contact with the wheel 2, soy that the extent of protrusion of the exposed lowerV part of the conical ring beyond the wheel llange maybe adjusted. The conical oil ring 16 and the guide roller 9'may be made equal in the shape and dimension, so thatthe two partsmay be interchangeable. In view of the fact that. the supply of oil should be made on the predetermined point only, that is; on the inside corner of. the rail, and because any supply of oil.' on the tread or topi surface.` ofa rail would bring a great deal: of damage and troubles: on the running carriage in many ways, it has` been proposed to use an oil ring having its periphery parallel tothe vertical` axis thereof and rotating in an horizontal; plane.` On the other hand,` in general, it is noted'. that, the railroad has the. guardrail in the curved line, that the pave stones are placed near the side of rail at the railroad crossing, and that there are many other kinds of obstacles near the rail sides. Consequently, the use of such horizontally rotating oil ring as mentioned above can not be practically adopted, unless the diameter of the ring is made extremely small. According to the present invention, the above mentioned drawbacks have been overcome by adopting an oil ring having its periphery of conical shape and supported on an inclined axis through an antifriction bearing, so that relatively large diameter of the ring may be used. In such arrangement, the angle p (lines A-A in Fig. 2) may be an arcuate angle, and also the oil ring 16 may be arranged nearly in a plane of the wheel ange as shown in the drawings.

The operation of the invention is as follows:

When the wheel is running under the normal condi tion, the periphery of the oil ring 16 is held out of contact with the inside corner of the rail 1, leaving a clearance of about 5 mm., and it is not driven. The oil in the oil chamber 18 is prevented from iiowing out by the engagement of the adjuster tube 19 and the oil ring 16 which is now stationary.

In a curved section of the track, the wheel 2 on the outer rail will be shifted outwardly (to the right in Figs. 1 and 2), so that the oil ring 16 is brought in spring pressed engagement with the inside corner of the rail 1, and the guide roller 9 is disengaged from the back 8 of the wheel ange. The oil ring 16 now being rotated, the periphery of the ring is continuously supplied with a lm of oil from the oil chamber 18 through the adjuster tube 19, and in -turn supplies the film of oil to the inside corner of the rail. As soon as the wheel returns to the original normal position, the oiling device 7 is pushed inwardly by the engagement of the guide roller 9 with the wheel ange and is disengaged from the rail, whereby the oil supply is discontinued.

The above mentioned automatic oiling action takes place not only in the curved section of the track, but also in the straight course whenever the carriage partakes so-called snaking motion, shifting the wheel -to the right in Figs. 1 and 2, thus effecting a local oiling.`

From the foregoing, it will be seen that according to the present invention the oiling device automatically supplies oil only when the wheel is shifted outwardly, but stops supplying oil as soon as the wheel returns to its normal position, and 4that the oil is supplied in the form of film, preventing undue consumption of oil. The advantageous effects of the present invention in minimizing the wear of the rail and the wheel ange are illustrated by the diagrams shown in Figs. 3 to 5.

In the diagram of Fig. 3, it will be seen that while the average amount of wear of the wheel flange between a and b obtained by experimental tests Without oiling the rail for 23 months duration is about 0.85 mm. per 10,000 km. running, by starting the oiling in accordance with the present invention at the point b the amount of wear progressively decreased, and that from the point c the amount of wear decreased at a considerable degree, showing average Wear of 0.45 mm. per 10,000 km., i. e. nearly half the amount obtained between a and b.

Fig. 4 is` a diagram showing the rolling resistance,

wherein the curve A' has been obtained without oiling f been obtained without oiling the rail, while the curve B" has been obtained with the rail oiled according to the present invention. From this diagram, it will be seen that while the curve A" shows 10 mm. wear of the rail for 10 months,. with the curve B about 30 months were required to reach 10 mm. wear.

As will be seen from the foregoing, according to this invention, oiling of the inside corner of the rail is automatically and effectively conducted without necessity of any manual operation whenever the wheel is shifted towards said inside corner of the rail to be oiled, avoiding G any oil supply sofar as the wheel is in its normal position not requiring any oiling, and that the wear of the rail and wheel ange is considerably reduced with minimized consumption of oil. Consequently, the costs required for interchanging the tyre of the wheel and for interchanging the rail are greatly saved, and at the same time the power consumption for the railroad operation is also considerably reduced. It is also to be noted that the device according to this invention is very simple in construction and may be easily manufactured and erected at lower cost.

What I claim is:

l. An automatic rail oiler comprising a supporting bar mounted on an unsprung part of a carriage and having a depending resilient portion, an oiling device mounted to the lower end of said depending resilient portion of the supporting bar and having a rotary oil ring partly exposed near the outer face of the flange of a wheel and adapted to be brought into rolling contact with the inside corner of the rail, a guide roller carried by said depending portion of the supporting bar and normally adapted to be in rolling contact with the inner face of the wheel flange so as to hold said oil ring out of contact with a rail, and means for supplying oil to said oiling device.

2. An automatic rail oiler as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe oiling device comprises a casing mounted to the lower end of thesupporting bar in an inclined position and having a recess at the lower end thereof, an oil ring having conical periphery and rotatably mounted on an axis in said casing through an antifriction bear ing and having its periphery partly exposed through said recess in the casing.

3. An automatic rail oiler as claimed in claim 1, wherein the oiling device comprises a casing mounted to the lower end of the supporting bar in an inclined position and having a recess at the lower end thereof, an oil ring having conical periphery and rotatably mounted ou an axisin said casing through an antifriction bearing and having its periphery partly exposed through said recess in the casing, an oil chamber in said casing, and oil adjuster tube connecting said oil chamber and the periphery of said conical oil ring.

4. An automatic rail oiler as claimed in claim 1, where? in the oiling device comprises a casing mounted to the lower end of the supporting bar in an inclined position and having a recess at the lower end thereof, an oil ring having conical periphery and rotatably mounted on an axis in said casing through an antiefriction bearing and having its periphery partly exposed through said recess in the casing, an oil chamber in said casing, an oil adjuster tube connecting said oil chamber and the periphery of said conical oil ring, and spring means urging said oil adjuster tube against the periphery of the oil ring.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 996,367 Robinson June 27, 1911 1,081,419 Youtsey Dec. 16, 1913 1,497,177 Long June 10, 1924 1,707,183 Agner Mar. 26, 1929 

